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The Commoner.
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Story of One Man's
Faith
Collier's Weekly prints an interesting story
concerning'. Charles L. Goodell, pastor of the
largest Methodist church in the world. From
this article tho following is taken:
"I am just out of state's prison!"
Dr. Goodell was in the midst of a revival ser
vice when a man stood up in tho aisle and
shouted these words at him in a voice that was
harsh with excitement. Tho preacher paused in
his discourse. The audience sat breathless and
transfixed. Every glance was turned upon tho
man In tho aisle. His head was bent forward.
The muscles of his faco were set. The beam
of his eye rested steadily upon the face of the
minister. After a moment that was tense al
most to painfulness, he repeated his statement
and amplified it.
"I am just out of state's prison. I was guilty
of all that was charged and of things which were
never found out. You have been saying things
hero which are tremendously true or terribly
false. You have been talking about some One
who could save people from their sins. You
said it made no difference how wicked a man
had been if he repented; that his sins would be
blotted out. You said he would know he was
forgiven and the sense of condemnation and
guilt would be gone. Now, if you are saying
what you do not know to be true, you ought
to be ashamed. If you are holding out to a man
like me a hope when there is no hope, you ought
to stop it."
At this point, without appearing to cease
speaking, the man's voice seemed to die out of
him and he stood silent, but with the Intensity
of his pose unreliev.ed and his hungry eyes
searching the face of the preacher. The sin
cerity of the man obviously entitled him to
every consideration. There was tragedy in the
lines of his face and in the tones of his voice.
Ho took some steps nearer, to bring himself
directly in front of the chancel, and, stretching
out his hand in a gesture of appeal, said:
"I want to know, sir, whether you believe that
this religion you are preaching can save a man
like me. You said that Jesus saved a thief
on the cross. Do you believe that Jesus can
save a thief now?" The man's chin quivered
and his eyes swam as again the voice died out
of him. The entire audience was moved by the
force of his appeal. Dr. Goodell confesses that
he felt it to his heels, but he felt also his faith
rise within him at the challenge. Ho reached
across the chancel rail and took the appealing,
outstretched hand in his, saying, in a voice for
all to hear:
"My brother, I have honestly declared a mes
sage In which I believe. I can not afford to
preach a gospel that is not true, and I will not.
I am ready to make this contract with you. . If
you will meet the conditions which are laid
down in the Bible, by which a man may come
to God, and you do not find salvation, I will
never again go into this pulpit to preach!"
Something like a sigh swept over the audience
as they realized the significance of the issues
thus joined. As for the two men, they knelt
together at the altar. There was an earnest
exposition of the way of life by the doctor with
the open Bible before him, with eager, earnest
listening by the man. Thereafter the minister
prayed fervently, and the seeker himself uttered
a few broken sentences. There were other inci
dents of tho revival service that night, but noth
ing comparable in importance to this one, and
tho congregation was dismissed in suppressed
excitement. The service of the following night
had been announced, but with the stipulation
that Dr. Goodell would not preach except upon
the condition which all now understood.
As the congregation passed out and left the
doctor alone, and finally the man who had chal
lenged his Gospel so strangely was also gone,
Dr. Goodell began to feel a sinking at the heart.
He realized that he had risked all the future of
his ministry upon the chance issue of affairs in
the soul of a highly emotional creature, who had
strayed into his meeting. Yet ho reasoned with
himself that he had done right and only what an
honest preacher could do. He believed that re
demption began here and now. If this man
if any honest seeker couldn't get it, then either
there was no such thing or else he, the preacher,
did not know how to proclaim It, and might
therefore as well cease to preach as to continue.
However, Dr. Goodell did not sleep much that
night, and the next day was a restless one for
him. Some of .his parishioners thought he had
been too rash and came to tell him so, but ho
withstood their urgings. Night came, and the
hour for service. Dr. Goodell was at the church,
but did not enter the pulpit. Instead he sat
just inside the chancel rail with his eyes upon
tho door. Would the man come? Would ho
como a conqueror or a miserable failure, con
fessing defeat? The time to preach at length
arrived, but tho man did not. Dr. Goodell an
nounced another hymn, and the congregation
stood and sang:
"Thero is a fountian filled with blood," etc.
As the last note died hasty steps were heard
in tho vestibule, then the doors swung open and
a man the man with hair disheveled and his
features dripping pespiratlon, rushed down the
aisle.
"The car broke down," he exclaimed, breath
lessly, but " and his voice rose in hoarse notes
of triumph "you can go ahead and preach!"
1 VOLUME 12, NUMBER 49
exchange security markets, and tends to pre
vent competition with the enterprises in which
they are interested to the detriment of the
general public.
"The same situation, I understand, although
in a more acute form, exists in New York city.
"In accordance with House Resolution 405,
under which your committee is acting, sec. p',
page 5, it seems to mo that any legislation sug
gested by your committee should contain a
recommendation of a bill forbidding officers or
directors of any national bank receiving, directly
or indirectly, any commission, fee or considera
tion for or on account of any loan, purchase,
sale, payment, exchange or transaction made by
the national bank of which they are directors,
which is the law in relation to directors of in
surance companies in both Newt York and
Massachusetts."
A BOSTON PROTEST AGAINST THE
MONEY TRUST
The Boston Herald, in its issue of Monday,
December 2, printed the following interesting
article: The money trust has Boston in its grip
and has been guilty of pernicious activity in de
feating legislation, according to State Senator
George Holden Tinkham, who has written about
conditions here to Congressman A. J. Pujo, j
chairman of tho congressional committee that
has been investigating the money trust.
Mr Tinkham, who is chairman of the legis
lative committee on banks and banking, thinks
that his charges may lead to an investigation
of Boston banking conditions by the congres
sional committee and a recommendation to con
gress of a law divorcing private banking houses
from control of national banks.
His letter follows:
"I desire to bring to your attention and to
the attention of your committee a certain recom
mendation of tho national comptroller of the
currency in his 1911 report; also a bill based
on that recommendation which was introduced
in the Massachusetts legislature this year. This
bill attempted to put that recommendation into
law in relation to Massachusetts trust com
panies, but was defeated through the pernicious
activity of several large Boston banking houses
and note broking firms. It appeared that mem
bers of these houses and firms were directors on
a number of boards of national banks and trust
companies, the firms of which they were mem
bers receiving commissions or bonuses and
profits on sales of securities and underwriting
made with such banks. One of the principal
opponents of the bill was a banking house
which had representation on nine boards of
directors of national banks and trust companies.
"I have been chairman of the committee on
banks and banking of the Massachusetts legis
lature for three years, and from my knowledge
believe the recommendation, if enacted into
law, would be of material'assistance In diminish
ing the power of large banking houses controll
ing on boards of. directors of national banks the
use of money of depositors for their own selfish
ends as against the legitimate demands of
smaller and less favored borrowers.
"Tho recommendation on page 81 of the 1911
report of tho comptroller of the currency is as
follows: 'It is recommended that the taking
or accepting of money or other valuable thing
from a borrower by any officer of a national
bank for his own personal use as a reward,
inducement or consideration for obtaining the
loan from the bank of which he is such officer
shall be made an offense and punished by im
prisonment in the penitentiary.' In a letter to
me, dated April 13 last, the comptroller's office
stated that the word 'officer' was meant to in
clude directors.
"The very banking houses, through stock
ownership and official management, are the
same persons, interests ' and groups of individ
uals that own, dominate or control large cor
porate enterprises.
"Upon careful investigation I have come to.
the conclusion that their success over others in
the same line of business is, in part, because
of their control over the public funds in public
depositories tho national banks and trust
companies and that "their direction of tho
operation of these banks and trust companies
in the purchase and sale of securities and loans
of money have been used to further the enter
prises and increase the profits of these groups
of individuals from such transactions and to
augment their power over the finances of- the
community and to control in part the money and
TRIBUTE TO WOMANHOOD
James Oliver Curwood, author of "The Flower
of the North," tells the following story about
the men to be found in the country about Hud
son bay, where the scene of this story is laid:
"I was at Prince Albert," he says, "sitting on
the veranda of the little old Windsor hotel, fac
ing the Saskatchewan. During the few days
previous a number of factors, trappers and half
breed canoemen had come down from the north.
One of these men had not been down to the edge
of civilization for seven years. Three of tho
others had not been down in two, and this was
the .annual trip .of the other eight for there
were just eighteen of us sitting there together.
"We"were smoking and talking when a young
-woman, turned up the narrow walk leading to
the veranda. Immediately every voice was
hushed, and as the woman came up the steps
those twelve roughly clad men of the wilder
ness rose to their feet to a man, each holding
his cap in his hand. Thus they stood, silent
and with bowed heads, until the young woman
passed into the hotel. It was the most beautiful
tribute to womanhood I had ever seen. And I,
the man from civilization, was the only one
who remained sitting, with my hat on my head!"
Denver News.
CURRENCY LEGISLATION
The Dubuque (la.) Telegraph-Herald prints
the following editorial: Mr. Bryan sounds
warning of the purpose of the sinister financial
influences back of the Aldrlch currency scheme
to force Its adoption in the next congress.
It is almost incredible that so vicious a
scheme as that proposed by the discredited sena
tor from Rhode Island should be considered
seriously in this enlightened hour when ex
perience teaches that nothing of good in legis
lative matters can be expected from the Rhode
Island genius.
His scheme, it may be recalled, proposes asset
currency. Under its operation, this newspaper,
let us say, borrows on its note at a national
bank. The latter uses this note as a basis for
asset currency notes. In other words, it makes
the interest on the loan to this newspaper and
then makes the interest on other money of
its own issued on the basis of this news
paper's note. Stated another way, it makes
one dollar serve the function of two. This, it
is immediately apparent, is no more and no less
than" a proposal to give the bankers something
for nothing, and is most vicious inflation.
Nor is this all. The bill furthermore sub
stitutes for federal government control trustee,
or group, control. The measure is one so dan
gerous in many respects that its adoption would
be a genuine calamity.
IN OTHER WORDS
The Chicago Inter-Ocean, famous or notor
ious, as you please, as the spokesman for the
special interests, says: " 'Stop, Look, Listen!
says Mr. Bryan, in big black type, clear across
the top of the first page of his Commoner. And
when you've looked, even if you have neither
stopped nor listened, you find that Mr. Bryan
is solemnly warning congress to be on guard
lest the 'big financiers who are behind the
Aldrlch currency scheme' rush the bill through
the short session which began Monday. Why
this portentous warning? Oh, naturally Mr.
Bryan wants to postpone 'the reformation or
the currency' till the new congress (democratic;
caii tackle the job under his supervision."
In other words Mr. Bryan believes that this
important work should be undertaken by a
congress and under an administration chosen
in 1912 rather than by a congress chofien m
1910 and an administration chosen in 1908 ttota
repudiated by the people in a most emphatic
way.
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